Yesterday in The Daily Texan, Amanda Almeda published an opinion article titled "Planned fee for campus Internet saddles students with extra cost." During a meeting on March 5, the University of Texas' Information Technology Services brought up a proposal to begin charging students for wifi access on campus. In this proposal, students would pay $4.25 a semester for 5 gigabytes of data. Although this is just a proposal for now, financial concerns are arising from UT students. Almeda stresses the fact that even though the cost is less than $5 a semester, it is very easy for all of the fees to accumulate. For the students who do not use wifi on campus on a regular basis, this fee would prove to be a waste of money.
Almeda states that UT has admitted that "the new policy will help protect the University against liability issues that occur when a student does something illegal using Internet proved to them by the University." Almeda and various UT students have already voiced their disagreement to the proposal. This ridiculous plan is just another way to get more money out of students. The intended audience of this article is not only UT students who regularly use wifi on campus, but especially for those who can't afford another fee.
The logic of Almeda's claim can easily relate to every college student who is facing fee after fee for something we should never be charged for in the first place. Evidence that this proposal is yet another way to get money out of college students is shown by UT openly admitting that funds are low. To strengthen her credibility, Almeda includes statements from networking director William Green who is UT's Information Technology Services. She provides additional statements by David Villarreal, the incoming Graduate Student Assembly president, that supports the disagreement to the proposal.
We must keep our eyes open and fight against yet another unnecessary fee. If this new idea becomes a reality, it could spread like a disease to other colleges and universities across Texas.
1 comment:
I'm drawing the line. The line has been drawn. A free for WiFi access? UT wants to charge a fee on top of their tuition? On top of all the other fees one has to pay to park, dorm, downtown parking, and food? It doesn't matter to me if the fee is .20 cents or 400 dollars, it matters to me because they have the audacity to charge the students more money because they can. That is discouraging information. It makes me not want to go to UT because who knows what else they might make a fee. What about a fee for riding your bike on campus? Or a fee to use any electrical outlet on campus? Free WiFi is the future for attracting people to places. If we are already shelling out thousands of dollars to learn why make students pay a couple dollars more? No. This is just another way to squeeze more money out of the people who need ever penny they can get. What a shame. Good job on informing me, a future student!
Post a Comment